New Yorker Piece On Gene Drives & Public Engagement

June 27, 2017Article, Audio, Societal Issues

A world void of malaria, Lyme disease, and dengue fever sounds almost utopian. Michael Specter of The New Yorker explains, in artistic detail, how CRISPRgene editing could help eradicate transmittable diseases. Scientists have long thought that gene drives, a way of altering DNA to propagate a desired trait across an entire species, could be employed to make pandemic diseases a distant memory. Following the work of modern scientists, Specter reveals how open dialogue between scientists and the public could open the way for deploying gene drives outside of the lab and into the wild.